Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

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Half of City accused of being drunk

Last month, City broker Venetia Thompson wrote a tell-all tale of hedonism and debauchery in London’s trading rooms, which was published in the Spectator.  This month, according to the Daily Mail, Venetia Thompson is on the dole queue (see endnote).    Mind you, looking at what she was saying, I’m not surprised.  Her article was…

Half of City accused of being drunk

Last month, City broker Venetia Thompson wrote a tell-all tale of hedonism and debauchery in London’s trading rooms, which was published in the Spectator.  This month, according to the Daily Mail, Venetia Thompson is on the dole queue (see endnote).    Mind you, looking at what she was saying, I’m not surprised.  Her article was…

Microsoft’s internal Vista docs released by law

A friend of mine sent me this link last week, having seen how annoyed I’ve been about Windows Vista.  It’s a link to internal memos from Microsoft SVP’s and other senior staff in Q1 2007, airing the same issues I had with Vista.  It’s slow.  Graphics and software and peripherals aren’t working, etc, etc. I…

Microsoft’s internal Vista docs released by law

A friend of mine sent me this link last week, having seen how annoyed I’ve been about Windows Vista.  It’s a link to internal memos from Microsoft SVP’s and other senior staff in Q1 2007, airing the same issues I had with Vista.  It’s slow.  Graphics and software and peripherals aren’t working, etc, etc. I…

Microsoft’s internal Vista docs released by law

A friend of mine sent me this link last week, having seen how annoyed I’ve been about Windows Vista.  It’s a link to internal memos from Microsoft SVP’s and other senior staff in Q1 2007, airing the same issues I had with Vista.  It’s slow.  Graphics and software and peripherals aren’t working, etc, etc. I…

I’m sorry, you are firewalled out

I regularly run workshops on the future of banking. Part of the workshop explores the implications of virtual worlds and social networking on bank services, and what the world of banking might look like five years from now as a result.   Yep, you guessed it, we talk about Entropia, Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Club…

I’m sorry, you are firewalled out

I regularly run workshops on the future of banking. Part of the workshop explores the implications of virtual worlds and social networking on bank services, and what the world of banking might look like five years from now as a result.   Yep, you guessed it, we talk about Entropia, Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Club…

I’m sorry, you are firewalled out

I regularly run workshops on the future of banking. Part of the workshop explores the implications of virtual worlds and social networking on bank services, and what the world of banking might look like five years from now as a result.   Yep, you guessed it, we talk about Entropia, Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Club…

Freeconomics and the bank with naked women

There were plenty of great stories released over the last week.  We had the Liechtenstein stuff and more on Northern Rock with the near £50 billion exposure to Granite … but there were two stories that just made me smile so they have to be logged here. The first was the socialist who decided to…

The end of Indian outsourcing

Forbes reports today that India’s competitive advantage for offshore services is disappearing fast as wage demands mean that services are now 66% cheaper for US and European firms in India, compared with 84% a few years ago.  As wage demands increase, it can only be a matter of time they say, where it will cost…